Friday, October 16, 2015

Kickstart the Week(end) with Super! Volume 2: The Secret is Out!

By: Nicole D'Andria

Super! Volume 1 was one of thehighest rated comics of
2014. This week, I’m showcasing the kickstarter for the second volume and
talking with the creative team.

The
Kickstarter is for Super! Volume 2 which collects issues #6-#11. The world of Super!
is overcrowded with people who have superpowers. A team of
superheroes whose name is still under development—including the likes of Blitz, the Furious Fire-Ant, Silhouette, Blood
Death, Adventure Man Zero, the Streak, the Unquenchable Lush and Professor Max
Archer—fight against the super
injustices of this world.

The comic book is being published by Unlikely Heroes
Studios. The writers are Justin Piatt and Zack Dolan. Dolan also pencils the comic book and Piatt handles the lettering. The inker is Laurie Foster.

For $5 or
more, the backer will receive a digital copy of Super! #6, the first issue in the second volume. For $10 or more,
the backer will receive a digital copy of the first five issues of Super! in the first volumeand Super!
#6. Several other special rewards have been created for people who back the
Kickstarter. There is a new toy for the Furious Fire Ant, an art book and a Super! video game. A playable alpha build
of the game can be downloadable for Windows on their Kickstarter page.

The
creative team needs to raise at least $50,000 by November 3, 2015 at 7:35 PM EDT
for the project to be successful. Issue 6 has almost finished production and
the money for the Kickstart will help the rest of the volume be created and
produced faster and more efficiently.

I spoke
with Justin Piatt, Zack Dolan and Laurie Foster about the series:

Justin Piatt (Letters/Writing/Publisher)

Me: What is the premise of Super! Volume 2?

Justin Piatt: Super!
Volume 2 is
delivering on a promise.

In Super! Volume 1, we essentially
built a really fun world and then just had fun with the crazy cast of
characters that reside there. It was all about fun. We “go deep” a few times,
giving some story elements that have some weight and consequence behind them,
but we needed to set the tone as funny, our world as unpredictable and vast,
and establish our characters. With so much building, the focus just HAD to be
fun.

As we get deeper into the story of Super!,
the funny is still going to be there, but the deeper moments are going to have
more weight because we’re more invested in the characters. Delivering the
content that you were waiting for, but weren’t aware you were waiting for, but
then it’s happening on the page and oh-my-gosh-it’s-so-awesome.
That is what Volume 2 is all about.

Because
every page of Super!, while
entertaining and serving a purpose within its own issue, is leading to big
payoffs, and as we start cashing in on those investments Super! will be hitting at a level that’s rarely seen in American
comics.

Me: For people who haven’t read the first volume,
what do they need to know in order to follow along with the second volume?

Piatt: We do a pretty good job of catching readers up
to speed, and because issues are generally stand-alone, if you started with Volume
2, you wouldn’t be totally in the dark. It’d be like picking up the best X-Men
comic ever made, cold. You’d be like “Wow, this is awesome!” but there’d be a
little bit of “Who is this guy who’s doing this cool thing?” so you might have
to look back to the start of the book to see “Oh this guy is the Streak. He
gets super-speed as long as he’s naked. I get it now!” and then you’d flip back
and keep the train rolling.

Right now, Blitz believes that her civilian identity of Paula Terry is dating a
man who is secretly a hero, but as readers, we already know that he’s the Black
Atom, the leader of the supervillain group the Fearsome Fivesome. That story
has been cooking since issue 1, and with the “my boyfriend is a super-hero!”
moment on the last page of Volume 1, it’s starting to heat up.

Blitz’s superhero team consists of eight people, and like a shitty high-school
band they can’t pick a team name, but that’s okay because they don’t get any
credit for what they do anyway. That honor usually falls to our universe’s
premiere superhero team, the People’s Champions. The modern-day People’s
Champions is led by Superstar - and already we’ve seen a lot of him.

But all of this I’m sure we’ll work on to make sure to convey to new readers
too. There’ll be some adjustment, but it’s not like One Piece or Dragon Ball Z
where you run the risk of jumping on in the middle of a 20 episode fight
sequence.

From Super! Volume 1

Me: Super! pokes fun at comic
book tropes. What are some of these tropes and why did you feel it was
important that these tropes be brought up in the story?

Piatt: So many things about superheroes that we
commonly see just flat-out would not work, or wouldn’t look as cool. I think
Zack has a gift for picking that stuff out, and in doing so he created an
“everyman” kind of superhero universe where sometimes super-suits chafe or
tights don’t fit. But instead of being powered-down like Kick-Ass it’s powered
up like the Tick, only where the Tick is set at 4, Super! is cranked up to 11.

We hear a lot that Super! is in for
an uphill battle because it’s coming out in the 2000’s, after so many years of
superhero lore. But that’s kind of the service that Super! provides. We’re constantly watching superhero shows and
movies and thinking “WHY ARE THEY DOING THAT?!” and then we work a joke in
around it.

Me: Who is your favorite character in Super! and why are they your favorite
character?

Piatt: It’s going to sound like a cheap answer, but I
love the characters that we don’t know ANYTHING about. Sure, we’ve got a really
exciting group of heroes in all sorts of crazy colorful situations, but there
are Supers everywhere in this world: taking out the trash, cleaning the windows
of that skyscraper, filling its prisons, everywhere. So it makes sense for us
to fill our backgrounds with characters who will show up or become more
important down the line - if the situation permits. For example, there’s no way
the leader of a world terrorist organization would be in the background of a
coffee-shop scene! World-class villains get their coffee through the brute
force or market guile (or did we learn nothing from Superman 3?).

When people shout “Wait a minute, I know this person!” and start flipping
through the book… that’s a win for me.

Gun to my head, forced to pick just one… I’d go with Kongarr the Uncontainable.
I know, he was only shown briefly so far, but I never think of Kongarr and not
smile. Giant monkey wearing gladiator gear with the voice of my favorite actor,
Michael Clarke Duncan, permanently on “Slammin’ Salmon mode?” What’s not to
love?

Me: What is the number one reason people should
back Super! on Kickstarter?

Piatt: The number one reason backers should support
our Kickstarter is because they want to read a really, really satisfying and
fun comic.

The best
superhero comic in the world right now isn’t made by Marvel or DC, and doesn’t
even have support from publishers like Dark Horse or Image. The latter two
companies shy away from superhero stories, the former are so stuck in a spin
cycle of reboots and year-long crossovers that they don’t care that their fans
are like “Hey, uhm, can we make good comics and forget about the movies for a
hot minute?”

The fact that we go crazy to make our Kickstarter backers happy because we’re
100% fan-supported is further reason to jump on, but first and foremost, it’s
about the premiere comic-book experience - which, unless stores back our Kickstarter,
won’t be available in comic stores. Isn’t that nuts?!

Me: What inspirational words do you have for comic
book writers?

Piatt: Learn to
letter.
Seriously, it’s not very hard, it increases your value to your team (and
probably saves you some money if you’re an indie book), and gives you that
all-important “final control.”

Against the Super! method: Writer writes a script, penciler draws it, inker
inks it, colorist colors it,writer gets
it back and checks to see if there’s any unexpected changes from script to art.
Maybe an overjoyed face didn’t really look all that overjoyed. Better change
it! Okay, let’s letter it! Quick, let’s reread it to make sure it’s as good it
can be. Re-letter it. Repeat until it’s awesome. It’s finished.

That flexibility is key. Sure, there are book editors, but they shouldn’t be
involved on the “story element” level, just at the “does this suck” level… but
that’s another column altogether! Lettering yourself, at least you’ll be able
to hold onto your work long enough to know what you pass on is awesome and hits
in the way you intended it, because you literally put every word on the page.
There’s no one else to blame!

Zack Dolan (Pencils/Writing)

Me: If you had only one sentence to describe each
character in Super!, how would you describe them?

Zack Dolan: Well, there are so many
characters in this series, let’s just stick to the main team or we’ll be here
all day.Hahaha.

-Blitz is the closest thing
to a "real" superhero in the bunch of them, in that she actually both
has useful powers and cares about innocent people.

-The Furious Fire-Ant is a
smart-mouthed acrobat in an armored ant suit who is basically what would happen
if the Blue Beetle was an irresponsible drunk.

-Silhouette is one part
Batman, one part Doctor Fate, one part Doctor Who and all scary.

-Blood Death is a gun-toting
vigilante so insanely violent and strict, he makes Judge Dredd and the Punisher
look positively restrained and even tempered.

-Adventure Man Zero is a
size-shifting super robot who doesn't seem to be aware he's not in a children's
anime.

-The Streak is a smirking
manchild who can run at supersonic speeds, but only when he's nude.

-The Unquenchable Lush is a
mild-mannered scientist who becomes a quivering, snarling, white hot ball of
vein-popping rage...but only when he's drunk.

-Professor Max Archer is
what would happen if Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Doc Brown were all the same
person...and they were completely out of their mind.

Me: How would you describe your art style in the
book?

Dolan: That's a difficult question. I try to keep it both realistic, and
insanely lively and cartoony, which is a hard tightrope to walk, let me tell
you. Haha. I was always a big fan of Art Adams, Alex Ross and Brian Hitch, so
you see a lot of that in my work, but there's also a bit of an 80's Giffen
Justice League in there, and even some manga influences. I guess you could call
my style "Comic Book Jambalaya." Hahaha.

Me: Who is your favorite character in Super! and why are they your favorite
character?

Dolan: Oh, that's another really hard question.Honestly it's a four-way tie between the Fire-Ant, Blitz, Silhouette and
Blood Death, but gun to my head-I can only choose one?I have to go with Fire-Ant because I love his
snarky, bitter sense of humor. He kind of reacts to situations the way I
probably would in most cases. I love his costume and he's really fun to both
write and draw. He has the best parts of characters like Spider-Man and the
Blue Beetle, but without all the whiny emo baggage, just the fun parts haha

Me: What is the number one reason people should
back Super! on Kickstarter?

Dolan: Well, there a lot of reasons to do it, such as supporting young creative
people who have spent years volunteering for free to make an excellent product
that REALLY needs their help, the guarantee of loyalty and quality from our
brand in a way that most big companies don't care about much anymore, to save
the superhero comic from a slow death by the hand of marketing gimmicks and
bloated money sucking crossovers, and because of how hard we work to provide
female, minority and LGBT representation in a way the Big 2 are sorely
lacking.

I could go on, but I guess if I really
had to say what was the most important to us: Because comics should be fun. Comics
have supposedly become more "mature" and as a result we have a huge
glut of grim/dark super serious comics about things that are just…not that
serious. There is so much unpleasantness in comics these days, but how
seriously can you take stories about guys who wear their underpants outside of
their regular pants? If you can’t laugh at this sometimes, what can you laugh
at?We wanted to make something FUN,
that the reader could feel satisfied with purchasing, that they would remember
later as a great laugh and a good ride and anything other than a meaningless
link in a giant marketing chain to keep books going for no other reason than to
keep the brand alive between movies.

Me: What inspirational words do you have for
pencilers?

Dolan: Two things: Never, ever stop practicing and don't ever take “no” for an
answer.I've been drawing every single
day for 30 years, I first picked it up when I was three and it's not something
you can ever let lapse. It's a very competitive industry and you have to
practice and hone your skills every single day to stand out, and when you do that,
you are gonna get told no 50, 100 or 1000 times, but the key is never to accept
that.One day, you WILL get good enough
to do it professionally and work on a real book, it's just how dedicated you
are.

Me: What inspirational words do you have for comic
book writers?

Dolan: Basically the same thing I said for artists. Never ever take “no” for an
answer and keep strengthening your skills every day. But also, as a writer, you
need to not be afraid to do two things. First, you can't be afraid to say
something you wrote isn't good enough and needs some rewrites. There's no shame
in not getting it right the first time because, here's the kicker, NO ONE ever
does. I promise you the first thing Neil Gaiman wrote was not Sandman. Don't be afraid to admit it
needs some polishing. But then here's the second thing: Don't be afraid to
accept a story is done and that you have to stop messing with it. You have to
do rewrites, but you also have to know when you've played around enough and a
story is what it's supposed to be. If you don't stop fiddling, you never finish
anything, and if you don't finish it, it can't come out, and no one will read
it.

Laurie Foster (Inks/Publisher)

Me: How would you describe your art style in the
book?

Laurie Foster: I think I would best
describe my inks over Zack as clean and bold.Super! is an extremely
detailed comic, and a clean style works best to get that across and compliment
Everardo Orozco's colors.

Me: Who is your favorite character in Super! and why are they your favorite
character?

Foster: My favorite character is probably Max Archer,
with Silhouette as a close second.I've
ALWAYS had a thing for very intelligent characters (Donatello was my favorite
ninja turtle, and Egon was my favorite Ghostbuster), so I'm pretty much following
suit. Plus, he's a goofball! I just love him. Silhouette is just a badass,
plain and simple.

Me: I know the Kickstarter mentioned you were a
model. Can you tell us a bit about your modeling career and the model-related
stretch goal for Super! Volume 2?

Foster: I am a model and cosplayer!Most of my career has been at comic
conventions or through clients online, because I live in the middle of nowhere.
:P Inking is really my first passion, so I'm not aiming for a California or New
York-level modeling career, but I do love body painting and making costumes. My
husband loves taking photos, so together, we make an excellent promotional
team! Getting to cosplay characters from the comic I ink is such a bonus! I
made a brand new Blitz suit and plan to do an awesome photoshoot with prints of
the character for the stretch goal.

Me: What is the number one reason people should
back Super! on Kickstarter?

Foster: Honestly, it's just an AMAZING book. They
should back it because they'll read a great book, and it'll help us get this
show on the road to continue to make great books at pro publisher speeds. I
want to keep the fans happy and addicted to Super!,
and GROW our fanbase; the best way to do that is to get this project
funded!

Me: What inspirational words do you have for
inkers?

Foster: Practice. All the time. Ask artists for
sequential pencils to ink and ink those things whenever you can! Not just
pinups! The more samples and practice you have, the easier it will be to find
work, and progress your skills from there. Ask pro inkers for tips and advice,
but also follow your own instincts. Don't mire yourself in a single style - a
good inker can be flexible depending on the penciller.

Me: I also talked to Justin Piatt about the various rewards Super! is offering. The Kickstarter offers some of the most unique rewards I've seen including figures and a video game, so I asked Piatt a variety of questions about the process of creating these rewards.

Why was it decided to create a video game and
figures for the book?

Piatt: It’s going to sound
crazy, but both were chosen because they’re really cool Kickstarter rewards
that provide the most bang for their buck. If we removed both the game and the
toy from our Kickstarter, we’d be raising $43,000 instead of $50,000, and we
wouldn’t have any rewards to offer in order to try to reach that goal!

That’s
why we went forward with these NOW, but as far as “why get toys” or “why go for
games,” the answer is much easier.

I’d
played - and loved - the X-Men arcade game before I read my first X-men comic.
I also had the tradable cards, and struggled to get that final 9 card Danger
Room set together to make the larger picture.

I try to make sure Super! is hitting
those same notes and playing that same song, because I want comic fans to feel
like I did when I was a kid. There was this sense of awe and wonder to it. With
Super!, we can recapture some of
that.

As far as toys, I have toys all around my house from games and TV shows, and
now I’ve got one of my characters running around. That’s why I pushed the team
for toys. There were other reasons I’m sure, because “I like it! It’s shiny!”
doesn’t go far at our meetings, but that’s the core of the decision as far as I
was concerned.

Me: Who worked on the video game and what is the
basic premise of it?

Piatt: I did. The Super!
game is created in house, with our other team members providing much needed
audio and testing support, as well as feedback into the overall design.

I’ve been obsessed with getting Super!
into video game form for YEARS now, and while it’d be killer to hook up with a
studio for it… whose got money for that? Not us! We’re trying to make a comic!
:)

We focused on the Streak because he naturally fit into a small-scale arcade
title with the assets that were already available. I’d love to make a game
featuring other characters, with a deeper scope, but you need a budget for
that!

The basic premise of the game is that aliens have invaded and you’re running around
as the Streak, picking up civilians and getting them to a hospital. Short and
sweet. While I’d love to expand its functionality, it’ll always have a
“pick-up-and-play” feel to it.

If you’re not having fun with a game within ten seconds, something is wrong.

Me: You compared the play style to Temple Run. For people who haven’t
played Temple Run, how would you
describe what that means for the Super!
game?

Piatt: It’s like Temple
Run in that that the camera is behind a character who is running straight,
and you’ve got to avoid stuff or die. But that’s just about where the
similarities end. Ideally, I’d like to keep this game objective based. Your progress is measured now by how
many civilians you save. I’d like to keep adding things for your character to
do that progress the experience along.

The
Commodore 64 game Quest for Tires did
this nicely. You were rolling in the jungle, you fought a boss, you were
rolling up a hill, you jumped a volcano, you rolled down the hill, you fought a
boss, etc. Same simple play mechanics, but it was satisfying.

Temple Run gets replays because of its
insanely complex currency system. You’re getting coins, you’re spending coins
on useless stuff. You’re buying coins with money. It’s genius I’m sure, but
it’s not really fun either, and if you’re not making a game so that someone can
have fun, you’re not making a game; you’re making a slot machine.

Headline: The Super! game will look like Temple Run but feel like Quest for Tires.

Byline: Super! creators die penniless in a
gutter somewhere. :)

Me: How did you create the figures?

Piatt: Zack drew up toy designs for eight characters
about two years ago for our Volume 1 Kickstarter. At that point, we started
contacting companies and got a few sample figures made. At the end of the day
we went with the manufacturer who had the best sample. The largest cost - the
mold creation and actual production - we hold off on until we actually have the
funds to make them, which makes the toys perfect for Kickstarter.

Me: To finish off the interview with everyone, if
you were a character in the Super!
universe, what superpowers would you have and why would these be your powers?

Piatt: I’d be Hotspot, the master of Wi-fi. I’d have
the power to bring whole networks down to their knees and slow production to a
standstill, but I’d still be loved by the people because of my free wireless
internet. Plus, stopping aliens is one thing, but there needs to be at least
one vigilante hero taking on Comcast.

I was
going to go with super-speakers, so I could make really cool entrances, but the
Wi-Fi would also be kind of cool.

Dolan: I think I would need a combination of super
strength and invulnerability. I have uncontrollable urges to break stuff when I
get mad, and I feel like it would be really stress relieving to just be able to
crash through buildings like some sort of demented Kool-Aid Man.Also, who hasn’t had the urge to punch
someone to the moon when they make you mad? I say you need both strength and
invulnerability, because without one, the other is somewhat useless. Super
strength is no good if you tear your super strong arms out of their sockets
trying to lift a tank and being indestructible is not exactly useless, but if you
were just a regular dude it would definitely not be as fun. Haha!

Foster: I think I’d like some kind of druidic powers -
communing with animals and nature and all that kind of stuff.I want to ride a tiger while I command the
trees to walk!I’m just a weirdo that
way.:)

Me: Thank you for your time; it has been super!
Check out Super! Volume 2 and pledge
to their official Kickstarter here.

Do you
have a Kickstarter? Want to be interviewed about it and have it showcased on
“Kickstart the Week?” Let me know in the comments below or message me on my
personal website www.comicmaven.com.